_Into the Heavens_
The directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw
Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was
a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the
gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position.
There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation
from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light.
They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated
with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its
blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when
it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the
departing vessel and swore mightily.
Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket
seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at
last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies
with this Martian he had admired since boyhood.
"Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend.
"You bet. But tell me about yourself. How you've been and how come
you've rebelled, too? I haven't seen you for a long time, you know.
Why, it's been years!"
"Oh, I'm all right. Guess I got fed up with things about the same way
you did. Knew last time I saw you that you were feeling as I did.
That's why I came after you."
"But this vessel, the _Nomad_. I didn't know such a thing was in
existence. How does it operate? It seems quite different from the
usual ether-liners."
* * * * *
"It's a mystery ship. Invented and built by Thrygis, a discredited
scientist of my country. Spent a fortune on it and then went broke and
killed himself. I bought it from the executors for a song. They
thought it was a pile of junk. But the plans and notes of the inventor
were there and I studied 'em well. The ship is a marvel, Carr.
Utilizes gravitational attraction and reversal as a propelling force
and can go like the Old Boy himself. I've hit two thousand miles a
second with her."
"A second! Why, that's ten times as fast as the regular liners! Must
use a whale of a lot of fuel. And where do you keep it? The fuel, I
mean."
"Make it right on board. I'm telling you Carr, the _Nomad_ has no
equal. She's a corker."
"I'll say she is. But what do you mean--make the fuel?"
"Cosmic rays. Everywhere in space you know. Seems they are the result
of violent concentrations of energy that cause the birth of atoms.
Thrygis doped out a collector of these rays that takes 'em from their
paths and concentrates 'em in a retort where there's a spongy metal
catalyst that never deteriorates. Here there is a reaction to the
original action out in space and new atoms are born, simple ones of
hydrogen. But what could be sweeter for use in one of our regular
atomic motors? The energy of disintegration is used to drive the
generators of the artificial gravity field, and there you are. Sounds
complicated, but really isn't. And nothing to get out of whack
either."
* * * * *
"Beats the rocket motors and bulky fuel of the regular liners a mile,
doesn't it? But since when are you a navigator, Mado?"
"Don't need to be a navigator with the _Nomad_. She's automatic, once
the controls are set. Say we wish to visit Venus. The telescope is
sighted on that body and the gravity forces adjusted so we'll be
attracted in that direction and repelled in the opposite direction.
Then we can go to bed and forget it. The movement of the body in its
orbit makes no difference because the force follows wherever it goes.
See? The speed increases until the opposing forces are equal, when
deceleration commences and we gradually slow down until within ten
thousand miles of the body, when the _Nomad_ automatically stops.
Doesn't move either, until we awaken to take the controls. How's that
for simple?"
"Good enough. But suppose a wandering meteor or a tiny asteroid gets
in the way? At our speed it wouldn't have to be as big as your fist to
go through us like a shot."
"All taken care of, my dear Carr. I told you Thrygis was a wiz. Such a
happenstance would disturb the delicate balance of the energy
compensators and the course of the _Nomad_ would instantly alter to
dodge the foreign object. Once passed by, the course would again be
resumed."
"Some ship, the _Nomad_!" Carr was delighted with the explanations.
"I'm sold on her and on the trip. Where are we now and where bound?"
* * * * *
Mado glanced at the instrument board. "Nearly a million miles out and
headed for that Sargasso Sea I told you about," he said. "It isn't
visible in the telescope, but I've got it marked by the stars. Out
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a quarter of a billion miles
away. But we'll average better than a thousand miles a second. Be
there in three days of your time."
"How can there be a sea out there in space?"
"Oh, that's just my name for it. Most peculiar thing, though. There's
a vast, billowy sort of a cloud. Twists and weaves around as if alive.
Looks like seaweed or something; and Carr, I swear there are things
floating around in it. Wrecks. Something damn peculiar, anyway. I vow
I saw a signal. People marooned there or something. Sorta scared me
and I didn't stay around for long as there was an awful pull from the
mass. Had to use full reversal of the gravity force to get away."
"Now why didn't you tell me that before? That's something to think
about. Like the ancient days of ocean-going ships on Earth."
"Tell you? How could I tell you? You've been questioning me ever since
I first saw you and I've been busy every minute answering you."
Carr laughed and slid from his seat to the floor. He felt curiously
light and loose-jointed. A single step carried him to one of the
stanchions of the control cabin and he clung to it for a moment to
regain his equilibrium.
"What's wrong?" he demanded. "No internal gravity mechanism on the
_Nomad_?"
"Sure is. But it's adjusted for Martian gravity. You'll get along, but
it wouldn't be so easy for me with Earth gravity. I'd have to wear the
portable G-ray all the time, and that's not so comfortable. All right
with you?"
"Oh, certainly. I didn't understand."
* * * * *
Carr saw that his friend had unstrapped the black box from his
shoulders. He didn't blame him. Glad he wasn't a Martian. It was
mighty inconvenient for them on Venus or Terra. Their bodies, large
and of double the specific gravity, were not easily handled where
gravity was nearly three times their own. The Venusians and
Terrestrials were more fortunate when on Mars, for they could become
accustomed to the altered conditions. Only had to be careful they
didn't overdo. He remembered vividly a quick move he had made on his
first visit to Mars. Carried him twenty feet to slam against a granite
pedestal. Bad cut that gave him, and the exertion in the rarefied
atmosphere had him gasping painfully.
He walked to one of the ports and peered through its thick window.
Mado was fussing with the controls. The velvety blackness of the
heavens; the myriad diamond points of clear brilliance. Cold, too, it
looked out there, and awesomely vast. The sun and Earth had been left
behind and could not be seen. But Carr didn't care. The heavens were
marvelous when viewed without the obstruction of an atmosphere. But
he'd seen them often enough on his many business trips to Mars and
Venus.
"Ready for bed?" Mado startled him with a tap on the shoulder.
"Why--if you say so. But you haven't shown me through the _Nomad_
yet."
"All the time in the universe for that. Man, don't you realize you're
free? Come, let's grab some sleep. Need it out here. The ship'll be
here when we wake up. She's flying herself right now. Fast, too."
Carr looked at the velocity indicator. Seven hundred miles a second
and still accelerating! He felt suddenly tired and when Mado opened
the door of a sleeping cabin its spotless bunk looked very inviting.
He turned in without protest.